Boston Avenue Athletic Club is looking to return to the Region III tournament. This Sunday, March 4 at the South Lakes Soccer Club in Oklahoma City, BAAC will have to get past Oklahoma University Men’s Soccer Club at 3 p.m. in the Oklahoma Soccer Association’s Open Cup Championship for a berth to the USASA Region III tournament held in Houston at the close of April.
BAAC is out to represent Oklahoma for a second consecutive year, but will have to defeat the club program from the university, which has taken the Oklahoma Collegiate Club Soccer League title five of the last 11 years. Last year, BAAC traveled to Tuscaloosa only to come up empty in a four-team group with three losses.
Teams from the state of Oklahoma trying to qualify for the US Open Cup, let alone earn a berth, is not a common occurrence. According to TheCup.us records, this year will mark only the seventh time in the last 18 years where a team from the Sooner state has entered the Region III tournament. Prior to 2010, the last team to enter from Oklahoma was a club called Guerrero finished last in Region III group play back in 2001.
Guerrero had lost its opening two contests against Vikingos of South Texas and Florida’s Uruguay SC, who qualified for the US Open Cup with a sweep of their opposition that year. They would earn the win in the finale, 4-0, against Internationals of Alabama.
Los Lobos of Tulsa represented the state three straight years beginning in 1997. The club fell short against D-3 Pro club Central Jersey Riptide (third division), 1-0, in their first trip to the tournament. The following year, they lost another one-goal game to a D-3 club, the Charlotte Eagles, 4-3. In 1999, Los Lobos advanced to the Region III Final when opponent Guadalajara of Tennessee forfeited the contest in the semifinal round. The club would take their third straight Region III title with a 4-2 victory against the McAllen Sun Devils, only to get blown out by the Wilmington Hammerheads (D-3 Pro) in the opening round of the Open Cup.
| USASA clubs that have qualified three years in a row (1995-present) |
| Los Lobos (Tulsa, OK | 1997-99) Mexico SC (Fresno, CA | 1999-02) Arizona Sahuaros (Phoenix, AZ | 2008-10) |
The following year Los Lobos would lose to Uruguay SC (Florida) in the Region III final, and would not return to the competition. The club still competes out of the Tulsa area.
The eight-year absence came to a halt in 2010 when FC Tulsa, now members of the National Premier Soccer League, advanced to the Region III tournament. FC Tulsa finished second in the group with a 1-1-1 record, taking eventual group and tournament winner CASL Elite to a 2-2 draw in the opening game. They then posted a 2-0 victory over ASC New Stars, qualifiers in 2011, before falling in a 3-2 decision against Atlanta FC.